Ascension

🤖 AI isn’t just shaking up industries—it’s redefining how we solve some of the world’s toughest problems. 🌍 At Ascension, we’re focused on AI’s power to drive real impact, especially where it matters most—lowering costs, enabling informed decisions, addressing equity issues, and enhancing key services. And thanks to my colleague Iulia Tudor who took to the keyboard to break this down, we've mapped out exactly how AI aligns with our investment thesis for Fund III. 👇 Check out our AI Investment Lens for a quick snapshot. Want to dive deeper? Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eVcAkeZ9 Building something extraordinary with AI? Let’s chat. We’re always on the lookout for disruptive founders solving for significant social issues at scale 💪 #AIForGood #ImpactInvesting #VC #FoundersWanted #SocialImpact Freya Wordsworth Jean de Fougerolles Toyosi Ogedengbe Remy Minute Rakesh Murria Keir Wright-Whyte Romha Berhane Chris Wheatcroft Alex Heerema CourtCorrect Heatio Tembo Juniver

Excited to share that Emma Steele and Freya Wordsworth are participating in Playfair Capital's Female Founder Office Hours on 7th November 2024, in collaboration with Carta and Microsoft for Startups. 💬As Emma Steele puts it "The Playfair office hours have been a fantastic way to connect with inspiring female founders from the start. We’ve also had the privilege of meeting one of our founding teams, Organise, during some of the very first Female Founder Office Hours.” To date, this initiative has brought together over 2,500 founders for 10,000 one-to-one investor meetings across nine editions. This is an incredible opportunity for female founders to pitch your startup to investors. If you’re ready to make those connections, you can register here: https://lnkd.in/e9GH5gi2 See you there! 🔥 #FemaleFounders #VC #Startups #Entrepreneurship

We’ve got thrilling news to share! From AI-driven real estate productivity to whisky biotech and experiential hospitality, some of our incredible portfolio companies have landed major $$$ today! Huge kudos to Dr. Kate Jarvis & Johnny Morris for having Speedinvest lead a $7m round in Fifth Dimension AI; to Fran Kauzlarić & Matija Marijan and their €2m seed led by Bessemer Venture Partners; to Douglas Martin at MiAlgae and their £14m round led by SWEN Capital Partners. We couldn't be prouder! 🎉 🎉 🎉

Today, I am proud to announce Morgan Stanley's investment in Juniver. Since launching Juniver 8 months ago as the first digital therapeutic for eating disorders, we've onboarded thousands of members, providing personalized support whenever they need it. Juniver is deeply personal to me. Like many female founders in healthcare who are patient-founders, I’ve seen first-hand the systemic issues that need addressing—and the opportunity for big impact. With Juniver, our primary objective is improving clinical outcomes, which we’re doing through data, from identifying novel measures of detection, to delivering effective personalized treatment. Part of that efficacy goal, is getting people to believe that it’s possible, that there’s a way forward. It’s been particularly meaningful to see our members, many of whom spent years in cycles of disordered eating and come to us disillusioned, envisage and start to write a different future for themselves. Inclusivity in health innovation is not just an ideal—it’s a critical pathway to achieving health equity and ensuring that no one is left behind in the pursuit of better health.  Morgan Stanley's Inclusive Ventures team supports this mission, and we’re excited to work with them and drive change.  

On the hunt for the best platform engineer you know! Must love long hours spent in GCP, exploring new machine learning challenges, ready to hop between mobile and cloud environments. Knowledge of the best taco in *insert city* is a bonus

A big thank you to everyone who attended our Portfolio Summit—having you all there made it an unforgettable event 🌟 Special thanks to HSBC Innovation Banking for hosting us and thanks to Kieran Hill (20VC), Evgenia Plotnikova (Dawn Capital) and Alex Lim (IVP) who delivered a powerhouse session on Key Metrics for Securing Series A Funding. 🔑 Kenneth Harrell from Pharus led an engaging talk on Paths to Exit and Preparing for It—a topic close to every founder’s heart. 🚀 We’re thrilled to continue supporting our founders and building this incredible community together!

A big thank you to everyone who attended our Portfolio Summit—having you all there made it an unforgettable event 🌟 Special thanks to HSBC Innovation Banking for hosting us and thanks to Kieran Hill (20VC), Evgenia Plotnikova (Dawn Capital) and Alex Lim (IVP) who delivered a powerhouse session on Key Metrics for Securing Series A Funding. 🔑 Kenneth Harrell from Pharus led an engaging talk on Paths to Exit and Preparing for It—a topic close to every founder’s heart. 🚀 We’re thrilled to continue supporting our founders and building this incredible community together!

Why It’s Time for VCs to Look Beyond London 🌍 Did you know that 70% of UK VC investment goes to London? However, groundbreaking startups are emerging from all over the UK. Curious to know more? Read the full article by Freya Wordsworth, an associate on our Ascension Fund III team, to see why regional investments make sense for us.

It was honor to take part in the BBC's The Food Programme to discuss disordered eating and Juniver's approach to recovery. Thank you Natalie Donovan for the thoughtful questions, and Sheila Dillon for the great show. You can sign up to our clinical trial here: www.junivertrial.com.

Unlocking Affordable Credit Options: Insights from Fintechs on the Front Lines Earlier this year, in collaboration with Fair By Design, we brought together some of the leading voices in the affordable credit space. 🗣️ Representatives from Fair By Design, Wagestream, Plend | B Corp, incuto, SteadyPay and more gathered to discuss how we can increase access to affordable credit. Curious about what was discussed? Read the full article below 📝 #Fintech #AffordableCredit #Innovation Kettel Homes, SuperFi, Tembo